KKBox, stylized as KKBOX is a music streaming service developed in 2005 by KKBox Inc., a software company in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It is a part of Japanese Telecom Group,

KDDI () is a Japanese telecommunications operator. It was established in 2000 through the merger of , , and . In 2001, it merged with a subsidiary named Au, which was formed through the merger of seven automotive and mobile phone companies from t ...

. The service mainly targets the music markets of

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, focusing on regions including:

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Working on a freemium basis, both paid and free members can listen to over 20 million tunes on

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

s, TVs, media centers and computers. As a Taiwan-based music streaming software, KKBOX caters mainly to Mandarin-speaking users by collaborating with record companies in the Taiwanese music industry. KKBOX also has close links with Taiwanese artists, and mainstream

Mandopop Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; later influences came from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Taiwan's Hokkien pop ...

artists like

Jay Chou Jay Chou Chieh-lun ( zh, s=周杰伦, t=周杰倫, first=t, p=Zhōu Jiélún; born 18 January 1979) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, actor, director, and businessman. Regarded as one of the most influential artists in the Chinese-speaking worl ...

Eric Chou Eric Chou Hsing-che (; born June 22, 1995) is a Taiwanese singer and songwriter. He has been dubbed by the Taiwanese media as "king of the lovelorn people". He debuted in August 2014 with the self-composed smash hit "The Distance of Love", whic ...

and Bii.

Development

After launching KKBOX in

, the company expanded the music streaming service to

and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

in 2009,

in 2011,

, and

in 2013. Starting from 2011, KKBOX received investment from KDDI Corporation, a Japanese telecom who holds 76% of the stocks;

HTC Corporation HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t), or High Tech Computer Corporation (abbreviated and trading as HTC), is a Taiwanese consumer electronics corporatio ...

, a smartphone company, and; GIC, a Singaporean Government fund. KKBOX has operated on

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Windows Media Center Windows Media Center (WMC) is a discontinued digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). It was included in Home Premium and U ...

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

, Android,

Symbian Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones. It was originally developed as a proprietary software OS for personal digital assistants in 1998 by the Symbian Ltd. consortium. Symbian OS ...

, Bada, partly

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, and since 2015

Apple Watch The Apple Watch is a brand of smartwatch products developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple. It incorporates activity tracker, fitness tracking, Health (Apple), health-oriented capabilities, and wireless telecommunication, and integrates wit ...

. In 2006, the first KKBOX Music Awards ceremony was held in

. Various artists that have performed and been honored including

Eason Chan Eason Chan Yick-shun ( zh, s=陈奕迅, t=陳奕迅, first=t, p=Chén Yìxùn; born 27 July 1974) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. He is one of the most popular and influential singers in both Cantopop and Mandopop. Besides holding the record ...

Jolin Tsai Jolin Tsai I-lin ( zh, c=蔡依林, p=Cài Yīlín; born September 15, 1980), also romanized as Jolin Cai, is a Taiwanese people, Taiwanese singer, songwriter, and actress. Recognized as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of C-Pop ...

Apink Apink (; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by IST Entertainment, (formerly Play M Entertainment, A Cube Entertainment, and Plan A Entertainment) and managed by Choi Creative Lab as of April 2024. The group debuted on April 19, 2011, with the ...

Sekai No Owari Sekai no Owari (literally translated, "End of the World"; stylized in all caps) is a Japanese Pop music, pop band from Tokyo. The band was formed in 2005 and has four members: Nakajin, Fukase, Saori, and DJ Love. Since their debut, they have ...

. In January 2017, KKBOX announced the winners of its 12th Annual KKBOX Music Awards. On September 15, 2023, KKBOX parent company, KKCompany, has acquired

Taiwan Mobile Taiwan Mobile () is a mobile phone operator based in Taiwan. It is the second largest telecom company behind Chunghwa Telecom. History Taiwan Mobile started as part of a strategic divestment from the now defunct Pacific Electric Wire & Cabl ...

myMusic streaming platform, in exchanged to have KKBOX available for Taiwan Mobile customers. KKBOX confirmed to close the service in Malaysia on December 31, 2024; leading to only Singapore as the only country outside Eastern Asia to operate the streaming platform.

Controversy over copyright

In 2007, KKBOX was suspected of reproducing musical works and allowed its members to download them without authorization. The works included 324 songs owned by HCM Music and songwriter Chan Kien Ming. KKBOX's owner and manager were prosecuted by Taipei District Prosecutors Office. In 2009, the court held that the case was considered as a civil dispute and the defendants were acquitted.遭控侵權 KKBOX簡民一判無罪--Chinatimes http://news.chinatimes.com/CMoney/News/News-Page-content/0,4993,11050709+122009072200294,00.html

References

{{Authority control Software companies of Taiwan Taiwanese companies established in 2004 2004 software Android (operating system) software Windows software Companies based in Taipei IOS software Music streaming services Symbian software Taiwanese music websites KDDI